The world seems to have gone mad for matcha in recent years, and the dictionary is finally catching up. This past week, the Merriam-Webster wordbook added 530 new terms to its vocabulary and of them, nine pertain to food and drink.
“We need to see lots of evidence of use for a new word to be added to the dictionary,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s Editor at Large. “Some of these words have been around for a while, but this batch also has terms that have come into the language very recently. Some terms are adopted into the language very quickly, and those terms need to be defined.”
The new edible terms making their way into the lexicon include:
Halloumi – used for a white, brine-cured Cypriot cheese made usually from a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk
Matcha – a green powder made from ground green tea leaves that is used to make tea and other beverages and as a flavouring agent
Concasse – food that has been roughly chopped
Cidery – a place where cider is produced
Meadery – a place where mead is produced
Chana – a dish made from chickpeas
Royal icing – a type of icing composed of sugar, egg whites, and sometimes flavouring or colouring that dries to a hard glaze and is used for decorating baked goods
Tallboy – a tall cylindrical can for beverages (such as beer) usually measuring 16 fluid ounces
Quaffer – one who quaffs a beverage
Is it just us who is surprised that halloumi only cracked now?!
